Ducks in NC  March 2011  

A new family member

So a friend and I had lunch at the Loveless Cafe here in Nashville a few days ago and during our hr and half wait we wandered the shops and I spotted this little fellow and decided that even though I am supposed to be on a duck hiatus that I simply had to have him.







I took him to the Natchez trace Parkway for a fall tour of the area and we stopped for pictures at the bridge.

he glows in the dark but has other tricks too, one day i'll show ya!

Grandpa's Peonies

Grandpa always had a garden. Grandpa planted vegetables, but also flowers. He planted the flowers for Grandma. The peonies grew and grandpa kept them up even after grandma passed away. I love the fact that they remind me of him so much, grandpa grew them and grandma loved them.





The duck was just an idea grandma would have found this little blog of mine amusing. I found out this past week that I am in good company in my picture taking obsession. Grandpa took tons of pictures in high school of his friends, family and even pictures at his work. Grandma took 8mm film that I hope my Uncle will get transferred to dvd and someday I will get to see it.

How to Spend a Birthday

I realise this is very late to be my birthday blog, but I am very late on a lot of things these days so here we go.

I like my birthday, it is a big deal to me. Don't really have a direct correlation as to the how's and why's, but I like to be with my friends on my bday. This year was one of those things where I would claim a do over if I could. I took it foregranted that people would 'just be around' and really didn't plan anything. I like quiet birthdays with a loud dinner with friends. I got the semi-quiet birthday. My car needed a catalytic converter and so Dax mostly (I asked lots of questions) put on the first half of my catalytic converter. I had planned to read and watch movies on my swing, but for some reason I was more fascinated with the car. I did read some, no school work, just me and Jane and Shakespeare.

So here are the pictures from that day...

the future graduate looking out over the city
ah..the wide wide world

sitting in detroit waiting for an O2 sensor to be changed

discussing the weekend before we leave Nashville

Preparing for flight

some of the better moments of the year

at the Ryman this poster hangs and it is as close to Coldplay as I will ever get.

at the Ryman



the best for last. The Wardrobe that inspired the Book.

here's to traveling in 2009 with a duck or two...

The Ryman

only one with a duck

I needed a little inspiration today so I was looking through my pictures from the Chicago trip and found these three. First the view is awesome.
this one is CS Lewis' desk, chair, and wardrobe. How intimidating, yet inspiring.
this plaque is from a display that was holding stuff from GK Chesterton. I like very much the fact that CS Lewis sometimes had to resort to the dining table to do his writing. My current desk is an old farm table that held displays from Bath and Body Works. I was able to buy it when we closed the store. Trust me, I can fill it with books faster than you could sit down to dinner at it.

Chicago day 2 part one

I know it has been awhile since I posted the 1st pictures from the Chicago trip, but midterms were upon us...Here we are at the Marion Wade Center at Wheaton University. Some how this place has one of the largest collections of items from the Inklings outside England. The ducks are resting just below the wardrobe that inspired CS Lewis to write the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Yes, you can touch it, yes you can go near it, no I did not go inside, but..



the ducks did :) there was no specific mention of Narnia, but I think they found something....

As the gold plate says this is JRR Tolkien's desk...

next the desk of CS Lewis and roaming around Chicago

Chicago

So French duck wanted to take a road trip, and Halloween duck had an idea, let's go to Chicago. French duck was excited about this because while only living in France he had always heard of the amazing places in america so off to Chicago we all went. Here we are traveling to the airport thanks to Christina's starbucks pal Christina. 

Here we are at the airport waiting for the plane

Here we are at the Wade Center in Wheaton Il. The Wade Center has gathered a good deal of artifacts from the Inklings and displays them for those of us who tend toward the obsessed side. Here French duck is sitting on the desk at which JRR Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and bits of other things. 

Tolkien's desk in full. 

Come back soon to see the Wardrobe and see if the ducks get inside to search for Narnia...

Traveling with a Duck in France...

I recently loaned my digital camera to my friend Ben who was going to visit France. There was one small request made in exchange for borrowing the camera I needed a duck in France picture and this is what I got ...

I confess coffee and chocolate definitely make it a duck that would make it home with me. Ben said he brought the duck home for me so now we have a French duck to go with all the others. Maybe a bit of international intrigue is just what was called for this week...

sorry...

the ducks and I wish to apologize for no new pictures lately. Seems the owner of the ducks loaned her camera to her friend Ben who took it to France for three weeks. So please enjoy all the old travels and we will have new adventures soon...

Boat 3

Duck and I missed the2nd Boat Day due to unforeseen injuries, but we made up for it this time.
As you can see it was easy to relax right off the bat with a little refreshment
There was little to do as the day ended but enjoy the view.

A little help was needed, but all was successful :)

A Duck that holds Shot Glasses: could anything be better?

sorry not to have any new pictures of the duck traveling around, it has been difficult to get around lately. hopefully soon we will be off on another adventure.

Duck on bad knee

Here is a new duck, a gift from Dax, sitting on my very sprained knee. That's all...